Hearts chiefs are reportedly set to hold talks today in a bid to find a short term solution with a crunch Edinburgh derby looming amid claims they pulled the trigger on Robbie Neilson over fears he would blow a £5 million ticket to European group stage football.
The Jambos surrendered a one-time 10-point lead in the battle for third place with Aberdeen - who have seen an upturn in fortunes since axing Jim Goodwin - and the Gorgie hierarchy felt they had to act following a fifth straight Scottish Premiership loss, the latest coming at home to St Mirren on Saturday which cranked up the anger among the Tynecastle faithful who chanted “Neilson get to f**”.
The Scotsman report the board will meet today as chair Ann Budge, chief executive Andrew McKinlay and sporting director Joe Savage look to thrash out a plan for the remaining games of the season. Hearts travel across the capital to face fierce rivals Hibs, also on a dismal run of form, at lunchtime on Saturday before hosting relegation-threatened Ross County in their final pre-split fixture.
They add that: “It is understood no decision has yet been made on the future of Neilson's backroom team, which includes assistant coaches Lee McCulloch and Gordon Forrest,” and continue to say “Steven Naismith, a former Hearts player and current coach of the B team, has been mooted as a potential short-term solution with some fans calling for the 36-year-old, who is also part of Steve Clarke's Scotland coaching staff, to be handed the reins on an interim basis as the club takes stock over the next permanent manager.”
Hearts reached the European Conference League group stage this season which proved lucrative and they don’t want to risk missing out on that - something seemed unthinkable until this recent woeful run. They enjoyed their most lucrative campaign ever this season after being drawn in Group A alongside Istanbul Basaksehir, Fiorentina and RFS. That was despite missing out on even more cash after a Europa League playoff defeat to FC Zurich.
A £200,000 parachute payment helped ease that particular blow, before a £2.6million automatic participation payment was secured. Home and away wins over Latvians RFS saw them pocket £875,000 in prize money and gate receipts from the matches at Tynecastle generated around £2million.
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